If you’ve read the news, you know that Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga beat Kenya’s Daniel Rono to win the 2009 Boston Marathon earlier today. From where we sat, cheering, near the corner of Chestnut Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Newton, Merga was just starting to pull ahead of the competition.
Having started before the men, the women front-runners passed our vantage place first, with first-place winner Salina Kosgei of Kenya preserving her strength near the rear of the pack while defending women’s champion and eventual second-place winner Dire Tune and third-place winner Kara Goucher of America enjoyed an early lead.
Our vantage spot was about 18 miles into the 26-mile race, and before greeting the men and women runners, we’d already cheered a pack of wheelchair-competitors racing their way toward the uphill challenge that give Chestnut Hills its name.
South African Ernst Van Dyk won the men’s wheelchair competition, and Japan’s Wakako Tsuchida won her third straight women’s wheelchair medal. These are the names you’ll hear in news reports as having “won” the marathon, and they certainly deserve the awe and admiration of spectating fans.
From where we sat near the corner of Chestnut Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Newton, however, there were just as many cheers for the anonymous competitors far behind media-darlings who led the pack.
Who, for example, could fail to cheer for the smiling faces on Team Noah, who pushed 30-year-old Noah Zack the entire marathon in order to raise money for special needs residential programs?
Or how about Richard Whitehead, who proved once more why he is the Marathon Champ by running 26 miles on not one but two prosthetic legs.
From where I sat near the corner of Chestnut Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Newton today, everyone who ran in today’s marathon is a winner, regardless of where they finished in the race.
Click here for a photo-set of images from today’s Boston Marathon. Enjoy!
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Apr 21, 2009 at 7:17 am
Great shots! I miss being able to watch the marathon on TV, and if I didn’t have to work it would have been easy for me to be in the city to watch in person. I kept tabs as best I could online.
See the Celtics last night?! Good day for Boston sports. 🙂
LikeLike
Apr 21, 2009 at 10:27 am
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever watched the Boston Marathon on TV! Years ago when I lived in Beacon Hill, I’d watch runners approaching the end of the race at Copley Square, but I never got there early enough to see the front-runners. Instead, I’d join the crowds cheering on the “regular guys” who were happy just to finish the thing. It always felt good to cheer for ordinary people who were doing something extraordinary, as if for one day in their life, they were a sports superstar.
(We did the same thing yesterday whenever we spotted someone with their name written on their shirt: “You go, Tony! Way to go, Emily!” I figure every little bit of “love” along the way helps.)
I missed both the Celtics & the Bruins last night: on Monday nights I’m back in Keene, so I don’t have TV. It was good to hear, though, that Ray Allen got his groove back. 🙂
LikeLike
Apr 21, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I admire anyone who could run a marathon. The farthest I’ve ever run is about ten miles, and that was enough for me!
(What’s up with those Army guys? Are they marching the route?)
LikeLike
Apr 21, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Awesome! I started running last month and ran two 4M runs this month. My goal for this year is to do a half-marathon!
LikeLike
Apr 21, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I am not a runner, so I definitely admire anyone who can/does run more than a mile at a time. I can imagine walking a marathon, but not running it!
Yes, Steve, the military guys were marching the route with huge (presumably heavy) packs on their backs. Heaven knows how early they’d started to have gotten to Newton by early afternoon. Some while after these guys passed, one uniformed soldier was RUNNING with his pack: I think he was trying to catch up with his troop!
Good luck with your training, Arvind. You definitely have my admiration!
LikeLike
Apr 21, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Wow! What fun! I’ve never seen the marathon in person but I would love to be there to watch the remarkable unknowns/unknown remarkables pass by. I think 4 miles is my lifetime peak (so far) – or MAYBE it was 5 – whatever it was, it was far short of even a half marathon, but even that feels like an accomplishment. Those humans. Sure can do some amazing things.
LikeLike
Feb 2, 2010 at 11:59 am
Great photos of the marathon! I teared up at the photo of the man with double prosthetic legs. My dad last his leg just below the knee to diabetes about 4 years ago. He’s always one to “create” new things, or even improve current ones. He loves brainstorming with the company that made his prosthetic leg to find ways to make it even lighter and more efficient.
LikeLike
Feb 2, 2010 at 12:02 pm
By the way, I teared up because I find it amazing that in the face of adversity there are those that find ways to make it work for them, rather than against them.
LikeLike